The Other Side
by Thanatos4
Summary: Demona as we have never seen here before: the buisness woman, and perhaps later some romance.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the gargoyles, humans, fey, dogs, cats, lizards, butterflies, or robots in this fic except Lienad and any other characters I invent and add latter on.  
Darkness had fallen long ago and still Nightstone Corp headquarters was alive. Throughout the building workers burned the midnight oil, but none more so than the queen bee herself. A 32 oz coffee cup at her side with azure fingers blurring over the keyboard Demona worked furiously on her latest forms. Hammering the enter key with vindication she swallowed the dregs of coffee in triumph. Demona, immortal gargess, enemy of humanity, sorceress extraordinaire, had vanquished the evil tax reforms. Victory never felt so good. Reclining in her office chair Demona gently massaged her temples. *Only HUMANS could have made such torture.*   
  
Sighing she slowly rose and worked the kinks out of her body. Long since relinquishing some of her time to her business, Demona was still amazed at how much time and energy it required. Unintentionally her respect for Xanatos had risen a couple notches. With a flick of her wrist she shutdown the computer for the night and grabbed her briefcase. Strolling towards the bay window Demona did not even notice her exhaustion. That is until she passed her mirror.   
  
True she knew she was running herself ragged but nothing prepared Demona for what she saw. Normally azure skin was now a pale dusky tone but for the dark duffel bags under her bloodshot eyes. Fire red hair normally either pulled back in a severe bun or let loose in a blazing mane now laid in a flaccid limbo, as if not knowing which way to go and not having the energy to care. Definitely not the best of weeks for her.   
  
Grinning as dreams of feather pillows and canopy beds danced through her mind she leapt from the window and caught the first draft home. Thank god it was Friday. Across the roof tops another smile lurked bellow a night camera. A few snapshots later the grin was still there. He truly wondered if Demona realized how ridiculous she looked. A female gargoyle in a ripped business suit carrying a battered brief case looking like death warmed over. Undeniably it was a picture worthy a few laughs. Carefully packing up his equipment the man quietly slipped into the shadows.  
A/N: Well that finishes chap. 1. Will Demona get some sleep? Will her tax reform be rejected? And who is this mysterious man? The truth will be set free.  
  
P.S. Please review. Flamers are welcome. -Thanatos85- 


	2. The next Morning

Legal shit: Gargoyles belong to Buena Vista. I am making absolutely no money off of this. I am probably losing money on it. So no suing the author. However the original character's belong to me and I would be happy to loan them out.  
  
Sunlight filtered through the giant trees about the manor dispelling the otherwise oppressive demeanor. The normally dauntingly dark mansion had relinquished its threatening exterior to the soft light of the weekend morning. Apparently the Masonic demons were now slumbering just as their mistress was. Not to be intimidated by the foreboding building the local songbirds greeted the morning in angelic chorus. A natural symphony their voices rose towards a glorious crescendo only to be cut short by a hurled alarm clock, shortly followed by various laser blasts. The mistress of the grounds would not be denied her rightful twelve hours of sleep. Smiling Demona snuggled back into her king sized canopy bed. Sometimes it was nice to be rich.  
  
*********  
  
Across the city another one was being rudely roused from much needed sleep. Unfortunately for him though returning to sleep's warm embrace was not an option. As it was he had would already have to postpone half the things he needed to do today. Hunting down gargoyles and then training in that all night gun range until it was nearly dawn was not the brightest of ideas he had ever had. Ignoring his fatigue he sprinted for his shower. Grabbing a measly bagel for breakfast he tore down the stairs of his apartment to the parking garage. Upon reaching the bottom floor he immediately sprinted to his motorcycle. If he could time things right he could still make it to work on time. Weaving through traffic he prayed there were no cops nearby.  
  
Rushing into the lobby he barreled past the security guard and into the closing elevator. Desperately hoping for no more delays he mashed the button for his floor. As if to mock him the elevator doors leisurely closed. Needless to say his trip down in to the subterranean labs was not an enjoyable one. Thankfully the halls to the lab were empty of pedestrians. As it turned out he managed to slip into the lab seconds before his shift started.  
  
"GABRIEL!"  
  
Whirling he spotted his boss the ever-present cantankerous old gnome by the name of Barlow. Stooped with age the old inventor hobbled his way over with his cane. Gabriel hated the sound of that cane, crack crack crack.   
  
"You my boy are needed in the test chambers. The Wraith Armor needs prepping for a 9:00 test. Screw this up and it's your head." Barlow sneered.   
  
"Yes sir." Gabriel bit out before turning on his heals and rushing out of the room. It was already 8:30 and the test chambers were ten minutes away. Damn Barlow relished giving him impossible tasks just to see him flounder. Just couldn't resist making the lowly engineer's life hell. Well at least Barlow had given him the Wraith Armor to work on. The Wraith Armor was his pride and joy. True he did not invent it or even design it but he did maintenance it and that was enough for him. Outside of the designer he was probably the leading authority on the Wraith Armor simply because it was his job to fix the thing.  
  
Amazingly enough he reached the testing camber in less than 7 minutes. Thanking what ever gods were smiling upon him Gabriel spotted his baby already laid out in a barely satisfactory order. While he would not have to assemble it completely, a process which took nearly four hours, he still would have to run a full systems check and diagnostic, a 25 minute process if he hurried.   
  
Connecting the armor to the computers Gabriel initialized the hydrogen power system. While the onboard computer booted up he started doing a physical diagnostic of the armor. Designed by an obsessed computer gamer/ sci-fi nut the armor was reminiscent of half a dozen video game armors. Basically it looked like the armor from Doom, Quake2, Unreal, Halo, Halflife, and Iron Man all rolled together. What were even more amazing were all the technological advancements in the armor. All the different systems fell into three basic categories; offensive, defensive, and utility.  
  
The first category Gabriel checked was the utility systems. These included the life support and medical pack along with the various control systems. Buried in the back of the armor was the most advanced computer system known to man wired to the world's best passive scanning system. If anything used an active radar or laser system anywhere near the armor it would pinpoint the location instantly. The strength enhancer was also part of the utility systems. Stealing inspiration from Iron Man the bodysuit layer consisted of tiny polymer cells that would stretch a small distance when electricity was applied. The end result was that the wearer's strength was increased tenfold. It also did away with the need for bulky hydraulic systems.   
  
Next came the defensive systems. The first thing to be checked were the armor plates. These were made of a special lightweight alloy overlaid with a special silicon coating. When applied with electricity the coating would change colors giving it the first cloaking ability in existence. True it wasn't anything like the movie Predator but watching the armor fade and match simple background colorings was down right scary. There had been times when hiding in the shadows the suit had almost seemed to disappear. The coating also allowed the armor plates to become a glossy reflective sheen that reflected laser based blasts away with little or no damage. However the armor was a light weight alloy that could not stand up to anything over light-arms. Coupled with the chameleon armor there was an excellent electronic countermeasure package. The specially designed AI, based off none other than Cortana from Halo, had the latest in communication breaking algorithms and was the closest to sentience of any program in existence. She also monitored the rest of the suit's systems.   
  
Finally Gabriel checked the weapons systems on the Wraith Armor. The first to get some loving attention was the laser cannon mounted on the back. Inspired by the Predator movies the laser canon would track whatever targets the armor's wearer specified and could fire at any time. Next were the plasma throwers. These novel weapons could be considered the end-all of flame throwers. They could hurl heated plasma that might as well have come from the sun up to thirty feet. Needless to say anything the plasma came into contact with quickly became slag. The only problem was that the plasma could not be controlled too well and the suit couldn't take producing it too frequently. It really was a last resort weapon used only when you wanted everything in front of you out of the way damn quick.  
  
The last thing he checked was the helmet. This part alone took nearly a third of the time it needed to prep the armor. It held roughly half of the all the electronics in the armor. Besides the breathing apparatus and communication gear the helmet also held one of the best HUD's to date. A miniature holographic display that showed the status of every system in the suit it took a great deal of patience to prepare.   
  
Finishing with all the physical components Gabriel glanced over at the computer. All electronic systems were running at optimal levels and he was finally done. And not a moment too soon as it had just turned 9:00. Glancing around Gabriel started wondering where all the technicians were. Normally before a testing there were at least a couple technicians hurrying to get the last minute things done. And even more important, where the hell was the pilot.   
  
Five minutes later Gabriel was starting to freak out. Not a soul in sight and he couldn't help but suspect that someone was going to lose their job. Thankfully he soon heard rapid footsteps heading his way. However Gabriel was not greeted by pilot or technician but by the scowling features of General Bane. Everyone knew that the General detested the Wraith Armor and his appearance was never a good sign.  
  
"Can you operate this blasted contraption?" the General growled for introduction.  
  
"Yeah but…"  
  
"Good, suit up and come with me."  
  
"Now wait just a minute! I'm just an eng…"  
  
"I didn't ask you boy, now suit up!" General Bane snapped handing Gabriel a memo stating that the U.S. government had control of the Wraith Armor and associated personnel for the next 12 hours for testing. It was even signed by the CEO, Ms. Destine.  
  
"Fine." Gabriel acquiesced moving back to the armor. Though he was estatic that he finally was going to get wear the armor it did not bode well that the General wanted the first person he came across to pilot the suit, The sense of foul play lingered as Gabriel followed General out of the building.  
  
************  
  
Demona on the other hand was having a much better morning. Twas 11:00 and she was still blissfully asleep. She had been so tired that she had slept strait through her morning transformation. However her slumber was not to be, Fate had other plans for her this morning. The absurdly loud phone on the nightstand rang reaching into Demona's peaceful sleep and tore her into the cruel realm of consciousness. Reacting on instinct alone Demona found herself clinging from the top of her canopy bed. Growling she dropped back down ready to immolate whoever dared disturb her rest.  
  
"If you so much as utter a single syllable I'll hunt you down and GUT YOU LIKE A FISH!" Demona snarled into the receiver.  
  
"Good morning to you too, Ms. Destine." An incredibly smug voice replied.  
  
"General Bane. You had better have a damn good reason for disturbing me." She bit off.  
  
"Oh, I just wished to inform you that the testing has been moved to 11:15. Have a nice day."   
  
~click~  
  
"What the fuck?!" Demona stared at the receiver in confusion. She knew that for some reason this news should be more disturbing but she couldn't remember why. Then it hit her, none of the test pilots were due back until 3:30 and there was no one else even remotely qualified. Now pissed beyond belief at the General's ploys she too rushed out of her house praying to get to her destination in time. 


End file.
